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GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks fall, dollar climbs as investors weight tariff outlook

, Reuters - 11:09 AM ET 3/26/2025 default

(Updates to morning U.S. trading)

Stocks dip amid tariff uncertainty

U.S. Durable goods orders rise 0.9%, beating expectations

Dollar index strengthens, on pace for fifth gain in six sessions

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK, March 26 (Reuters) - Global stocks dipped for the first time in three sessions on Wednesday and the U.S. dollar resumed its upward move as investors looked for further updates on U.S. President Donald Trump's expected tariffs while an April 2 deadline looms.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were lower while the Dow advanced, as the technology sector weighed in the early stages of trading. Both the benchmark S&P index and Nasdaq were on track to snap a three-session streak of gains.

Stocks have shown signs of bottoming in recent days after coming under pressure due to uncertainty over the tariff outlook and their potential to slow the global economy and dent corporate profits. Still, each of the three major U.S. indexes are on track for their first back-to-back monthly declines since the two-month period that ended in October 2023.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 182.05 points, or 0.43%, to 42,769.55, the S&P 500 fell 20.10 points, or 0.34%, to 5,756.79 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 212.27 points, or 1.16%, to 18,059.58.

The U.S. Commerce Department said orders for durable goods increased 0.9% versus the estimate of economists polled by Reuters for a 1.0% fall, after advancing an upwardly revised 3.3% in January as businesses rushed to place orders for primary metals and fabricated metal products ahead of the anticipated tariffs.

Trump most recently commented about tariffs on Monday, and said automobile tariffs are coming soon even as he indicated that not all of his threatened levies would be imposed on April 2 and some countries may get exemptions, while also slapping 25% secondary tariffs on any country that buys oil or gas from Venezuela.

"Everybody's trying to figure out what's going to be done on tariffs," said Steve Englander, head of global G10 FX Research and North America macro strategy at Standard Chartered Bank's NY Branch.

"They want to avoid market pressure before there's an announcement. But I think there's also some risk that, when push comes to shove, the announced tariffs will be more hawkish than the market's pricing," he added.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, rose 0.08% to 104.30, with the euro down just 0.01% at $1.079. After dipping on Tuesday, the greenback is on track for its fifth gain in six sessions.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe fell 2.54 points, or 0.30%, to 850.95 while the pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.44% as the coming tariffs spurred caution.

European stocks have outperformed their U.S. counterparts this year, largely on hopes a German spending package could spur growth and help counter the levies. The STOXX 600 was poised for its biggest percentage gain since the fourth quarter of 2022. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.39% to 150.48. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said the central bank must raise interest rates if persistent increases in food costs lead to broad-based inflation.

New Bank of Japan board member Junko Koeda said the country's real interest rates are currently "extremely low," as inflation accelerates backed by solid growth in wages but declined to comment on how soon the central bank should raise interest rates.

Sterling weakened 0.36% to $1.2896 after British finance minister Rachel Reeves cut the government's plans for spending increases on Wednesday to get back on track towards her fiscal targets. Earlier data showed British inflation slowed more than expected in February. U.S. Treasury yields were higher, with the yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes up 4 basis points to 4.348% and is on pace for its first monthly gain since December.

U.S. crude rose 1.26% to $69.87 a barrel and Brent rose to $73.86 per barrel, up 1.15% on the day.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak, additional reporting by Karen Brettell,)

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